


Shadow Program

by VenomQuill



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Astronaut pet, Electric Room, Gen, Is it a kid or something?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:35:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26521528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenomQuill/pseuds/VenomQuill
Summary: Giant ships meant to transfer people and cargo from station to station occasionally stop working for one reason or another. So, a crew of engineers, ranging from a group of four to ten, are sent off to repair them. Recently, shape-changing monsters infiltrated the ranks of one of the space stations and spread like a disease, killing and then mimicing the engineers and astronauts they killed. In a team of ten engineers, two are not what they seem. Two are Imposters.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 98





	Shadow Program

**Author's Note:**

> Find it on dA: http://fav.me/de5by02

Space. He’d always wanted to go to space. His parents were astronauts, as well as his grandparents and great grandparents. It was in his blood. He didn’t much believe in destiny, but if destiny was real, then being an engineer for a spacecraft was his.

Other engineers roamed the small shuttle. Usually, the air was calm, perhaps upbeat. The last few missions they went on involved repairing some internally damaged ships. Nothing too big; some shields went faulty and a few meteors hit the ship, damaging the hull and its contents. Wires short-circuited and the communication systems stopped working, forcing a manual repair and transfer of data. Such missions didn’t last very long. They would dock, the team of ten would get to work, two people would activate the auto-pilot, which always required two people to use it at the same time, and then they would leave from whence they came.

But today, today was different.

There was a monster amongst them, two in fact. Most liked to patrol in pairs or, rarely, trios, though there were many solitary ones. Most were gunned down at the base, but some had snuck onto the ship after slaughtering a few astronauts and mimicking their forms. There was no way to distinguish monster from human save for when they struck, but it was too late by that time. They could twist and contort their bodies to slip through small places, such as vents, and could survive in an environment without oxygen for hours at a time. They could mimic human speech flawlessly and could think as humans could.

He jumped upon hearing music blare. All eyes turned to the person in the middle, a stereo box in hand. The lights above gleamed over his cyan outfit–the result of a mandatory coloring system after monsters had been discovered in their ranks. The engineer shrugged and began to dance. Then, one by one, the other engineers started to dance to the music. Soon, it was a party, a mood lifter to temporarily forget about their troubles.

A few smaller living organisms joined their partners. There were a few hounds clad in suits whose color matched their owners’. Normally, they would be used to detect and defend, but inside their suits–mandatory in ships that they suspected could have leaks–they were nigh useless. But with him was not a dog, but rather a younger astronaut-to-be, red just like him. This was a mission he would have _never_ approved of, but under normal circumstance, his shadow would be ready to follow him everywhere. Why this _kid_ was even allowed within ten feet of the establishment, why the program wasn’t put on indefinite hold, was a mystery to him.

Oh, no, right. The college paid them to take on shadows.

Whatever; they could not go back so it was in his best interest to fix the ship as fast as possible and perhaps show his shadow a few tricks in return.

Their pod slowed and the growling of the engines softened. The cyan engineer stopped the music. They all wandered up to the air locks, shifting uncomfortably, eyes darting from person to person. _Imposters could understand and mimic human emotions._

Then, they were free.

Their first stop was the cafeteria, as they all gathered around a table with a large red button set into the middle. A glass box was set over it to provide protection with black and yellow striped tape around it. “EMERGENCY” was pasted on all sides. The emergency button was one to be pressed only when there was, of course, an emergency. A ring of buttons, all colors corresponding to the different astronauts, were placed in a ring around the table.

They exchanged a few silent looks, their faces impossible to see behind the masks in their suits. Then, they went their separate ways.

He walked down one of the corridors, passing a fork in the hall that led to the administrations room. They arrived in a spacious area, simply marked “STORAGE” for all the junk that was clustered in one place. There was not a single cluttered space in the ship outside of storage, as any objects not bolted to the floor or walls were held there.

He took a slip of paper from inside his suit and looked it over. There were quite a few tasks to be done to repair the ship, and they were divided equally amongst their members. Though, knowing two dead, those tasks were equally distributed amongst them all.

He looked up at a switch in the far end of the wall, occupying a corner. Black and yellow hazard tape cut off one corner, separating the floor from a hatch. This was the trash chute, too full of trash to be of use. So, he grabbed the lever and pulled down. “Hold down this lever for at least five to seven seconds, or until the light next to the lever activates.”

_Whiirrrrrr_

Soon, a light flashed, and he eased up on the lever, shutting the trash chute. His shadow looked at the light and nodded.

He turned and walked down the left hallway, which branched into a room labeled “ELECTRIC” but later took a curve after hitting one of the engines. The electric room was more heavily damaged. That or he got the short end of the stick. _Again._ Ugh, he hated fixing wires.

He walked into the room with purpose, hesitating as he needed to get around a large rack of lights and buttons and electronics. This would block his view of the hallway–and the hallway’s view of him.

He glanced down at his shadow, who watched him expectantly. He shrugged and continued walking, passing the electronics rack. At the end was a panel, which required a tablet for him to use. Data collected and stored in the Electronics Room was in here. With the signal between it and administrations jammed, he needed to manually transfer the data.

So, he plucked his tablet from his pocket, popped open the panel, and connected it to the wall. A bar popped up, as did two folder icons, one full and the other empty. A little astronaut brought papers from the left folder to the right.

…

_Estimated Time: 6d 9hr 49min 28sec_

The bar filled a little more.

_Estimated Time: 1d 9hr 5min 58sec_

He said, “These ‘Estimated Times’ are completely ridiculous. It only takes about eight seconds to complete.”

His shadow nodded, watching as the bar filled up and the “Estimated Time” was replaced by “Complete.”

* * * * *

She watched as he unplugged the tablet and went onto the next duty of his: fixing wires. It was almost as if something had opened the box and cut them, they were in such a clean line. Still, he showed her how to safely touch and then connect them. It took too long in his opinion, but they were done and onto the next one. This had knobs that spun on their own with gauges next to each of the three, all colored differently.

“You have to press them down when they align. They’re pretty finicky, so if you mess up one, the others loosen up again. Once all three are in place, you can tighten them by pressing them down again.” He demonstrated what he meant, though what he taught was easier in words than action. He messed up a few times, cursing to himself.

She paused as the engine nearby let out a low grumble. Or was that the electronics? Could electronics grumble like that? Well, he didn’t react, so she was probably just hearing things. Then again, the noise was rather frightening and foreign. “Do you hear that?” she asked, looking up at him for guidance and comfort.

He didn’t reply.

Could he not hear her? “Hello?” she called, her muted microphone not at all aiding her.

Then, she saw it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the air vent in the floor squeak open. A grotesque purple mass pulled itself out. Within seconds it was out, and the monster returned to its “human” form. It looked at him. He didn’t see it, concentrating so hard on the knobs.

It got near, producing a knife from within a “pocket” she couldn’t see,

“Hey! Hey! Next to you!” she yelled.

He popped the last knob into place with a “Just like that!” and turned to her. “What are you–”

_Shirnk, shirnk shirnk, shrink!_

The creature grabbed him by the neck and sank its serrated blade deep into his back. He ripped out the weapon and stabbed again and again until the writhing engineer stopped struggling.

She skittered back, watching the monster with wide eyes as its middle opened, revealing jagged teeth and some sort of horrifying mouth. It ripped into him, cutting him through the middle and swallowing everything from his stomach up.

Then, as if nothing happened, it turned and slipped back into the vent. A trail of his blood smeared the ground in its wake.

She looked down at the unmoving corpse, his body ripped apart and his now useless suit torn. It had eaten his air tank in its rush to consume his body, though why it left his bottom half she did not know. Why it did not even _look_ at her, she did not know. Perhaps she was too small a meal or too new a target to do “harm” by fixing the vessel it sought to destroy.

Above them, a red light flashed, and an alarm blared.

_REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT_

Shocked and numb, she approached his body. His blood pooled upon the ground, gently warming one of the boots of her one-piece suit.

She slumped down, her smaller body pressed against his hip, watching her feet. The alarm stopped blaring.

Eventually, another engineer appeared. This one clad in a yellow suit, they entered the electrical room. Upon seeing the body, they went rigid. Then, they bolted. Another alarm screamed over the system. _“EMERGENCY MEETING”_

After a few minutes, the remnants of his body–which had lost enough blood to stop bleeding and was now crusted in the dried stuff–was taken into the purple monster’s arms and it and the yellow astronaut carried him off. She looked up at them.

They paid her no heed.

So, she stayed sitting, staring at her feet. She could _feel_ his spirit nearby. But that couldn’t be true, that was just a story. He was in the one place she could not follow. So, she stayed.

**Author's Note:**

> _No one was ejected. (Tied)_
> 
> _2 Imposters remaining_
> 
> I don't have a pet in that game, but I saw some really amazing animations, a few of which depicted some of the crew members as having little astronauts and what they would do upon the death of their bigger buddies. When a crew member dies, their "pet" stays by their corpse. Then, after a meeting, they stay in the exact spot where the died. I was close to showing him going into Admins and pulling out his wallet, showing off a picture of his family, but decided against it.
> 
> Also, my luck dictates I get all there electric tasks. Also, that I either die first from the Imposter or get voted off first.
> 
> Also, also: there are actual fanfictions about this game? Blows my mind, honestly. That's not a bad thing, I just wasn't expecting it. Technically, I wasn't expecting Henry Stickmin fanfics, but they exist.


End file.
